News

EU Supports WFP School Meals And Disaster Risk Management In The Gambia

BANJUL – The European Union has contributed more than €4 million (US$4.6million) to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)’s efforts to offer quality food to Gambia’s children and reduce economic pressures on Gambian families.

The money will allow WFP to provide nutritious school meals based on local rice, maize, millet, beans, locust beans, groundnuts and green leafy vegetables to 64,000 children in North Bank and Central River regions, where most of the country’s hungry households are concentrated. It will also help generate and publish more accurate “early warning systems” information on food security and nutrition. The project is part of the EU’s strategic support to The Gambia, known as “Agriculture for Economic Growth and Food Security/Nutrition to Mitigate Migration”.

“The EU has shown unwavering support for The Gambia’s children and communities over the years,” said WFP Gambia Country Director Angela Cespedes, “and it continues to do so.”

Nearly half of The Gambia’s 1.9 million people live in poverty. For over forty years, WFP has been working with the country’s Government to offer school children in the poorest regions a daily meal; provide nutrition assistance to children and nursing mothers; and promote disaster preparedness, mitigation and response. To support the Government in its efforts to reach Zero Hunger in The Gambia by 2030, WFP is using innovative techniques, such as ‘smart’ data management through mobile technology and cash transfers in schools. This gives communities a greater role in feeding children while providing additional income to smallholder farmers.

# # #

WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. Each year, WFP assists some 80 million people in around 80 countries.